KNOX: This is Detective Allan Knox conducting interview number four in homicide case number 2000-08-002. The victim is Raychel Vanderhoff. It is 8:15 P.M. on August 18, 2000. The subject of the interview is Laura Douglass.
DOUGLASS: I'm sorry, I should have asked before, but I'm so nervous. I forgot to ask, when will we be receiving Raychel's body for the funeral?
KNOX: Are you responsible for the body?
DOUGLASS: I'm acting on the family's behalf until he arrives back in town.
KNOX: I was told she won't be ready until tomorrow morning at the soonest. They still have a few tests to run.
DOUGLASS: Is she . . . in a condition that we should be worried about? For the funeral?
KNOX: You mean open casket? I don't think so. Nothing that couldn't be handled by a good mortician. You said "he" for her family. Is there only one person?
DOUGLASS: Well, her brother, David Vanderhoff and his family. They live in New York.
KNOX: City?
DOUGLASS: Yes.
KNOX: And you said David was coming back? What did you mean by that?
DOUGLASS: I called him this morning and left a message for him to call me as soon as possible. When I told him what happened, he told me that he had been here on business and had just landed back in New York. He had tried to contact Raychel to set up a meeting, but he couldn't get in touch with her.
KNOX: So he was in L.A. at the time of the murder. Could you provide me with his phone number so that I can reach him?
DOUGLASS: Sure. Also, he'll be in town tomorrow morning.
KNOX: I'd like to talk to him.
DOUGLASS: Am I missing something?
KNOX: Such as?
DOUGLASS: Well, you sound suspicious of David. I thought you already had Kyle McAllister.
KNOX: We never "had" Kyle McAllister. He came here to answer questions just like you are now.
(PAUSE)
DOUGLASS: But he DID it! Don't you know that!
KNOX: I am not convinced of that fact.
DOUGLASS: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) What the living (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is going on with you guys? You HAD him!
KNOX: We never arrested him. We don't have enough evidence.
DOUGLASS: He went home with her. She died there. He called you guys from there. How simple does it get?
KNOX: It's more complex than that.
DOUGLASS: He confessed.
KNOX: I can see you've been speaking with Sharon Wolfe. Well, she was mis-informed. No, Mr. McAllister made no such admission of guilt. Actually, he didn't make much of a statement. I'm afraid my partner didn't give him much of a chance. However, his clothes said a great deal for him. There weren't any blood stains on his clothes, but his shoes had picked up stains from the floor. We tracked him through the apartment. He walked in, wandered around the room, called the police, and left. Couldn't have been clearer.
DOUGLASS: He could have changed clothes and walked through the room. Have you ever thought of that?
KNOX: I thought of it. If he had changed clothes, then we would have found the bloodstained clothes in the apartment. We didn't, so I'm not convinced he did it. Besides, he's not the only person who could have changed clothes.
DOUGLASS: He beat her all the time.
KNOX: I know. You've said it. Sharon Wolfe said it. Geoffrey MacIntyre said it. The officers at the scene said it. I've got dates and notes-
DOUGLASS: And her missing person report from when he abducted her?
KNOX: The false report from last March? Yes, I've got that, too.
DOUGLASS: False report? It wasn't a false report. Kyle kidnapped her right in front of me and they disappeared. We asked the police for help and filed the report. Kyle McAllister heard about it when they came back three months later and had Raychel clear it with the police.
KNOX: Since you're not a relative, you had no reason to file the report, so it's filed as a false report. It's just a technicality.
DOUGLASS: Get as technical as you want, but Raychel went missing for three months and he was the last person seen with her.
KNOX: I don't mean to get off on the wrong foot here, but you're aware that you're not really helping me right now, aren't you? When it comes down to it, I need your help. You can either tell me what you know or continue to argue minor points in this investigation. The choice is yours. But if you are interested in helping me solve Raychel's murder, you need to answer my questions, not second guess them.
DOUGLASS: I didn't mean to second guess you. I was only trying to set the record straight. If that's what you have a problem with, I'm sorry but you said you wanted an answer and I'm just trying to give you the best one.
KNOX: There's one thing that I know you can set straight for me. I'm trying to make sure that I have her entire record in front of me, and I think I'm missing something. On June 6th of this year, I've heard that she was beaten severely by Kyle McAllister.
DOUGLASS: She was. Sharon Wolfe brought her to me afterward.
KNOX: Why didn't either of you take her to the police, if you feel so strongly about Kyle McAllister? It seemed like a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
DOUGLASS: I resent that, Detective Knox. That night had nothing to do with my feelings about Kyle McAllister. That was about helping Raychel.
KNOX: And how did you help Raychel by not going to the police?
DOUGLASS: It was what she wanted.
KNOX: Did you advise her about going to the police?
DOUGLASS: I suggested it, but she didn't want to get the police involved.
KNOX: Why didn't you take her to the hospital?
DOUGLASS: The treatment she received at my house was better than she would have received at any emergency room. And she didn't have to wait as long.
KNOX: You are a person of means?
DOUGLASS: I like that. Do you mind if I use that? Yes, I have money.
KNOX: A fair amount?
DOUGLASS: There's nothing fair about money. You either have it or you don't. I do.
KNOX: It's handy to have.
DOUGLASS: Yes.
KNOX: Useful.
DOUGLASS: Yes.
KNOX: And you can help out your friends with it?
DOUGLASS: I have.
KNOX: Like Sharon Wolfe?
DOUGLASS: Sharon is not a friend.
KNOX: Maybe not a friend, but what about an employee?
DOUGLASS: I'm not following you.
KNOX: Did you secretly pay Sharon Wolfe to act as Raychel's bodyguard?
DOUGLASS: Oh, the "mysterious benefactor" thing? No. That's not my style.
KNOX: Sharon Wolfe thought you were the one who hired her.
DOUGLASS: Sharon Wolfe is not a brain. She's a muscle. And if they were closer in balance, Raychel might still be alive. No, I didn't hire her. I would have let her continue after Kyle beat her in June. I would have fired her right then and there. Forget the secrecy. Besides, the whole secret thing isn't my style. If I was helping Raychel by providing muscle, I would have let her know about it. What's the use in paying for something no one knows you bought? Right?
KNOX: You don't have money by yourself, do you?
DOUGLASS: What?
KNOX: Your money comes from your family?
DOUGLASS: Well it certainly doesn't come from my bar. God, if I had to live off that, I'd be . . . without means.
KNOX: Your bar is called Safehaven?
DOUGLASS: Yes.
KNOX: And were you there on the night of August 17th?
DOUGLASS: I was.
KNOX: From what times were you at Safehaven?
DOUGLASS: Let's see, I came in a little later than usual. Say 5:30 or 6:00 in the evening. And I left . . . I left around . . . just a little after closing. Closing's at two in the morning. Usually I leave a little earlier, but I didn't that night.
KNOX: Did you happen to see either Sharon Wolfe or Geoffrey MacIntyre while you were there?
DOUGLASS: Yes. They came in together.
KNOX: When was that?
DOUGLASS: I'd been there for a while, so after 7:00, maybe 7:30.
KNOX: How did they seem to you?
DOUGLASS: Geoffrey was angry and Sharon looked like she was handling nitroglycerine.
KNOX: She was afraid of Geoffrey?
DOUGLASS: Afraid? No. Not afraid. Worried.
KNOX: Did she tell you what she was worried about?
DOUGLASS: Yeah. Geoffrey had found out that Raychel and Kyle had been recording at Terror Trax.
KNOX: Their record label.
DOUGLASS: And their studio. Geoffrey runs the place.
KNOX: So why was he angry?
DOUGLASS: He wasn't told they'd begun recording.
KNOX: So he was mad because they were working without his permission?
DOUGLASS: It was more than that. Look, I like Geoffrey. He's a great guy. But he had tried to produce Raychel's last attempt in the studio and it was a flop. Four months and one song. They couldn't work together.
KNOX: Geoffrey and Raychel?
DOUGLASS: No. Geoffrey and Kyle. Raychel didn't want to get rid of either one so she tried to keep them together as best she could.
KNOX: And how was that?
DOUGLASS: She slept with both of them.
KNOX: Excuse me?
DOUGLASS: Raychel used sex to keep them both in line. It was pretty much her answer to everything.
KNOX: And it came naturally to her?
DOUGLASS: Yes. You're smiling. You know, then, don't you?
KNOX: That she was a prostitute? Yes. The name Raychel Taurus threw us off for a bit, but once we knew we were looking for Raychel Vanderhoff, it came right up. A couple of busts for solicitation in 1997. Not far from your bar, actually. Did you know about it?
DOUGLASS: That she was a hooker? Yes, I knew. I'd actually seen her around the neighborhood a few times before she first came into the bar.
KNOX: Were you okay with that?
DOUGLASS: With hookers in my bar? No. It's bad for business. If she wanted to be a hooker, that's her business as long as it doesn't interfere with my business.
KNOX: But she did come into your bar eventually.
DOUGLASS: Yeah, three years ago. I took pity on her. It was raining outside. I talked to her. I told her that if she wanted to stay through the rain, that was fine, but if she wanted to be a regular, she'd have to be a participant.
KNOX: Participant?
DOUGLASS: On Saturday nights, my bar hosts an artistic community called The Bleeders. It's a forum for painters, writers, and other artists to present themselves. No criticism. Just art. Saturday night was always open mike night.
KNOX: So you'd let her stay if she'd do something artistic the next week?
DOUGLASS: Yes. But she came to me sooner. She'd lost her apartment and didn't have a place to go so she came to me.
KNOX: Weren't you a little suspicious?
DOUGLASS: At first, but she brought some of her poetry with her. That was her thing. And it was great. It was special. She was special. You don't let genius like that go. You help it along.
KNOX: So she moved in with you?
DOUGLASS: For a while. A couple of weeks later she started living with Lance Wagner. But I was still paying for everything. I had another mouth to feed and neither of them lived with me. Well, Raychel would live with me off and on. Just as a power trip on Lance, you know. She showed him that he needed her more than she needed him. She used me for leverage. Not that I minded, really. I know Lance. He can get a little full of himself and get demanding. But he helped me with The Bleeders. Probably wouldn't have been as big without him.
KNOX: Why?
DOUGLASS: He had friends. Maybe not friends, really, but he knew people. Artists. When I told Lance about my idea, he jumped on the phone and started calling people. Next thing I know the place is crawling with people looking for a chance to read, perform, present. But Raychel was the first real good person. Myself included.
KNOX: What did Lance do?
DOUGLASS: Do? Nothing, really. Otherwise I wouldn't have had to pay for the two of them. Oh, you mean what type of artist was he? He was a writer.
KNOX: A hack writer?
DOUGLASS: Just so we're clear, you said that. Not me.
KNOX: How long did they live together before she began living with Kyle McAllister?
DOUGLASS: Did I say she began living with Kyle McAllister?
KNOX: I'm just trying to put together a timeline. I know at some point she moved away from Lance and moved in with Kyle McAllister.
DOUGLASS: You already have that date, Detective. That was when Lance and I filed your "false report." Kyle abducted Raychel at Safehaven last year on March 6th.
KNOX: Specific.
DOUGLASS: You tend to remember things like that. Kyle was out of control. He pummeled Lance when he tried to stop him. Kyle is a live wire. If he's angry, he can't be stopped.
KNOX: Can you give me Lance's phone number and address? I would like to speak with him.
DOUGLASS: Sure. I'll write it down. Why do you suspect him, if you don't mind my asking?
KNOX: Sharon said that Lance was dangerous.
DOUGLASS: Lance?! Lance is a weakling compared to Kyle.
KNOX: She said Lance used to follow Raychel. She also said she had to fight him off of Raychel once.
DOUGLASS: Weird. I don't know about that, but I do know that Lance was dedicated to Raychel. When Raychel left him, he lost a lot of himself. He stopped being, actually. Just stopped growing. Changing. Maybe he took one too many shots to the head from Kyle that night, maybe he couldn't recover from losing Raychel's talent, but he stopped being Lance after that and just froze in time. I think he always believed that she would come back to him, so he just waited. But she wasn't going back. She'd passed him by. I tried to tell him that I don't know how many times. He never caught the hint.
KNOX: You said Raychel was a poet. When did she become a singer?
DOUGLASS: Three months after he took her. That was when they came back to Safehaven. They took the stage and that was it. The poetry had been changed to lyrics and Raychel changed her name from Vanderhoff to Taurus. I don't blame her for that part.
KNOX: Do you blame her for becoming a singer?
DOUGLASS: I don't think it was her choice.
KNOX: So you think it was Kyle McAllister.
DOUGLASS: Of course. He had her alone for three months and when they came back she was a different person. That's not a personal choice. That's mind control. That's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) programming.
KNOX: It seems to me that she became more successful as a singer than she ever could have been as a poet.
DOUGLASS: And look where it got her, huh? Look poetry, painting, writing. . . no one cares much anymore. People don't get it like they should. But it exists because it's a link to what we can all be if we just want to bad enough. Raychel taught me that when she still believed in poetry. It doesn't matter that you're not successful in those things. They are disciplines. Some of the best artists never see their greatness realized. You know why? They're dead when we finally know what was lost. They die and all of these things that were so great just get picked up and appreciated. And no one ever gets to say, "Thank you."
KNOX: Are you angry because she turned her back on all of that?
DOUGLASS: No. Not angry. . . Disappointed. You know, she'd come to meetings every once in a while. A few times when times were tough. She'd read these pieces that were supposed to be poetry. But it wasn't poetry. They were more song lyrics, just waiting for music. I could hear it. I'll bet everyone could hear it. Except her. She didn't have the greatest ear for music. That's why she felt she needed Kyle.
KNOX: Unless my math is wrong, Raychel and Kyle got a recording contract within eight months after they came back to The Bleeders.
DOUGLASS: Actually, it only took about a week.
KNOX: A week?
DOUGLASS: One week.
KNOX: And they didn't have the connections?
DOUGLASS: Not directly, no.
KNOX: You helped make some connections?
DOUGLASS: I made the connections.
KNOX: Terror Trax.
DOUGLASS: Ken Kincaid was the owner of Terror Trax. He's a friend of mine. I called him after I heard Raychel's set when they came back. He liked what he heard and signed them practically on the spot. Terror Trax wasn't a big organization, so they couldn't afford to get in a bidding war.
KNOX: You keep using Terror Trax in the past tense, but Raychel was still recording for them when she was murdered.
DOUGLASS: A technicality. Ken sold Terror Trax to some big company. He stayed on, but they put another person in charge. Fortunately for Raychel, I knew him.
KNOX: Geoffrey MacIntyre?
DOUGLASS: Yes. I introduced them at a party after Ken sold the company. He told me after the sale that one of the names being thrown around was Geoffrey MacIntyre. I knew him and set him up with Raychel. After he met her, Geoffrey took the job. If not for me, Geoffrey might not have taken the job and Raychel might never have recorded again. . . (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I never thought of that before.
KNOX: So you helped make all of the right introductions for Raychel and Kyle. You must have been very impressed considering how much you seem to regret her decision to leave poetry.
DOUGLASS: I wanted to help. Plus I didn't have anything to lose. It didn't matter to me if they didn't think she had talent. I didn't have any musical credibility, so who cares if they thought I was wrong. No loss to me.
KNOX: And if one of those men could remove Kyle McAllister from the equation, that wouldn't have been too bad for you either, wouldn't it?
DOUGLASS: I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind a time or two.
KNOX: How did Kyle's attack on Raychel on June 6th change things?
DOUGLASS: It stopped everything. Sharon and Raychel lived with me while she recovered. At the time, Raychel was broken. She had lost herself. She second guessed everything she did and everything she was doing. She was miserable. I helped her put herself back together.
KNOX: So all of these friends of hers that she was supposed to have and the only people she had were you and Sharon Wolfe?
DOUGLASS: Well, there was Anna Fantiani.
KNOX: Who is that? Could you spell that please?
DOUGLASS: Anna Fantiani. F-A-N-T-I-A-N-I. She's Raychel's psychic friend.
KNOX: You knew she was emotionally fragile and you let her be advised by a phone psychic?
DOUGLASS: She isn't a phone psychic. She's a real one.
KNOX: Oh, I see.
DOUGLASS: No, I don't think you do. It was weird how she found Raychel.
KNOX: Found?
DOUGLASS: Well, I didn't go out looking for a psychic and Sharon was too busy caring for Raychel to go. But she came to us. Actually she came to Raychel.
KNOX: I thought Raychel wasn't known as a music star, yet.
DOUGLASS: She wasn't. That was what made it so weird. Anna came to my house to see Raychel to deliver a message that Raychel's father had died. She said she received a "message" from Raychel's father. Now there's no way she could have known that Raychel was staying at my home. There's no way she would have read an obituary from the other side of the country and put it together with Raychel. Raychel was almost exclusively using the last name Taurus instead of her Vanderhoff name, so there's no real way to make the connection. If Anna is a fraud, she's the best fraud of anything I've ever seen.
KNOX: You think she's the real deal.
DOUGLASS: I don't believe in psychics, but I think she's as close to genuine there is.
KNOX: You still question her, then?
DOUGLASS: It wasn't all crystals and trances. Anna became an advisor to Raychel.
KNOX: What kind of advice did she give Raychel?
DOUGLASS: Life advice. She told her to re-acquaint herself with her family. She'd left them a long time ago. All that was left was her brother. They had some issues between them, but Raychel began putting that past her. It was good for her. It gave her a base she hadn't had before. At least it would have.
KNOX: Did she advise Raychel to get back with Kyle?
DOUGLASS: Well it wasn't my idea.
KNOX: You opposed it openly?
DOUGLASS: I wouldn't have been her friend if I didn't speak my piece about that. But Raychel said it was what was best. It was six weeks after he beat her senseless, and she got back together with him.
KNOX: And they went back to Terror Trax?
DOUGLASS: Immediately. Ken Kincaid agreed to help Raychel and Kyle record without interference from Geoffrey.
KNOX: How do you know about it?
DOUGLASS: Ken and I are old friends.
KNOX: Wasn't Geoffrey?
DOUGLASS: I'm closer to Ken than I am to Geoffrey.
KNOX: Still it must have put you in an awkward position.
DOUGLASS: Not really. Geoffrey wasn't really helping Raychel so much as he was helping himself. Ken was interested in helping Raychel.
KNOX: Even though you would also be helping Kyle McAllister?
DOUGLASS: I couldn't change that. I tried, but it didn't work. Now he's your responsibility.
KNOX: Are Lance Wagner and Geoffrey MacIntyre my responsibility, too?
DOUGLASS: If you want them to be, sure.
KNOX: Just one last thing, Laura, if you don't mind. You said that Geoffrey was angry on the night that Raychel was murdered. There was an argument at Terror Trax prior to their arrival at your bar. To your knowledge, who started the fight?
DOUGLASS: Geoffrey.
KNOX: You're sure.
DOUGLASS: Positive. I spoke with Sharon and Ken Kincaid separately, and they both agreed. Geoffrey barged into their studio and started yelling about being stabbed in the back. He provoked the whole thing. Sharon didn't mention it to you?
KNOX: She implied it.
DOUGLASS: Well, I guess that's to be expected. She's very close with Geoffrey. I'm not surprised Geoffrey didn't mention it, though. It wasn't his finest hour from what I heard.
KNOX: Or the hours after that.
DOUGLASS: He did get very drunk. Just curious, how did he get to here anyway? If Sharon was already here, how did Geoffrey make it? He didn't drive himself, did he?
KNOX: No. Ken Kincaid drove him.
DOUGLASS: You're kidding? He wasn't lying.
KNOX: Who wasn't lying?
DOUGLASS: Oh, nothing. I was coming to see Ken after work that night and he wasn't there. I thought he had blown me off or forgotten. Funny.
KNOX: What is?
DOUGLASS: Ken and Geoffrey hated each other but they got along because of Raychel. She could keep a lot of people together who wouldn't normally be together except for her.
KNOX: Seems to me that they if they hated each other it was because of Raychel.
DOUGLASS: Raychel was special. Different people wanted to help her. I wanted to help her. Geoffrey wanted to help her. Sharon was paid to help her. Anna wanted to help advise her. Ken helped her. Maybe Kyle thought he was helping her. I don't think so. Lance just wanted to be with her, and he thought that would help. But nothing could hold her together. I know I gave her everything I could. Now she's gone. . . I'm sorry, are we done?
KNOX: Yeah, sorry. Yes.
(END)
